Red Adair

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VOICE ONE:

This is Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Faith Lapidus with People in America in VOA Special
English. Today we tell about Red Adair. He was famous for putting
out dangerous oil well fires around the world.

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VOICE ONE:

Paul Neal Adair was born in Houston, Texas in nineteen fifteen.
He was one of five sons of a metal worker. He also had three
sisters. While growing up, he became known as Red Adair because his
hair was bright red. The color became a trademark for Adair. He wore
red clothes and red boots. He drove a red car, and his crew members
used red trucks and red equipment.

As a young man, Red Adair dropped out of high school to help
support his family. He worked as a laborer for several different
companies. In nineteen thirty-eight, Adair got his first oil-related
job with the Otis Pressure Control Company.

VOICE TWO:

During World War Two, Adair served on a trained army team that
removed and destroyed bombs. After the war, he returned to Houston
and took a job with Myron Kinley. At the time, Kinley was the leader
in putting out fires in oil wells. Red Adair worked with Myron
Kinley for fourteen years. But in nineteen fifty-nine, Adair started
his own company.

During his thirty-six years in business, Red Adair and his crews
battled more than two thousand fires all over the world. Some were
on land. Others were on ocean oil-drilling structures. Some fires
were in burning oil wells. Others were in natural gas wells.

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VOICE ONE:

Red Adair was a leader in a
specialized and extremely dangerous profession. Putting out oil well
fires can be difficult. This is because oil well fires are
extinguished, or put out, at the wellhead just above ground.
Normally, explosives are used to stop the fire from burning. The
explosion robs the fire of oxygen. But, once the fire is out, the
well still needs to be covered, or capped, to stop the flow of oil.
This is the most dangerous part of the process. Any new heat or fire
could cause the leaking well and the surrounding area to explode.

VOICE TWO:

Red Adair developed modern methods to extinguish and cover
burning oil wells. They became known in the industry as Wild Well
Control techniques. In addition to explosives, the techniques
involved large amounts of water and dirt. Adair also developed
special equipment made of bronze metal to help extinguish oil well
fires. The modern tools and his Wild Well Control techniques earned
Red Adair and his crews the honor of being called the "best in the
business."

Red Adair was known for not being afraid. He was also known for
his sense of calm and safety. None of his workers were ever killed
while putting out oil well or gas fires. He described his work this
way: "It scares you -- all the noise, the rattling, the shaking. But
the look on everyone's face, when you are finished and packing, it
is the best smile in the world; and there is nobody hurt, and the
well is under control."

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VOICE ONE:

One of Red Adair's most important projects was in nineteen
sixty-two. He and his crew put out a natural gas fire in the Sahara
Desert in Algeria. The fire had been burning for six months. This
famous fire was called the "Devil's Cigarette Lighter." Fire from
the natural gas well shot about one hundred forty meters into the
air. The fire was so big that American astronaut John Glenn could
see it from space as he orbited Earth. The desert sand around the
well had melted into glass from the extreme heat. News reports said
Adair used about three hundred forty kilograms of nitroglycerine
explosive material to pull the oxygen out of the fire.

VOICE TWO:

Adair's success with the "Devil's Cigarette Lighter" and earlier
well fires captured the imagination of the American film industry.
In nineteen sixty-eight, Hollywood made an action film called
"Hellfighters." It was loosely based on events in Red Adair's life.
Actor John Wayne played an oil well firefighter from Houston, Texas
whose life was similar to Adair's. Adair served as an advisor to
Wayne while the film was being made. The two men became close
friends. Adair said one of the best honors in the world was to have
John Wayne play him in a movie.

Here is John Wayne in the film "Hellfighters." He has just flown
into Venezuela to help his crew fight a dangerous fire. He has
brought needed supplies with him.

((SOUND))

"Wooo. It's about time you got back to earning an honest living.
If you think I'm going to say it's a pleasure to be here, forget it.
Hi boss. George, nice to see you. I spent a lot of your money. Well,
what did you do, buy up all the control heads in Houston? This far
away from supplies, you get all the spares you can. This is Colonel
Valdez Chance. He's in charge of keeping us from getting shot. Well,
I hope you do a good job, Colonel. If I do not, you will have my
profound apologies. (Laughter) The longer you guys stand there, the
longer it's going to take to unload this thing. Right Joe…"

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen eighty-eight, Adair fought what was possibly the
world's worst off-shore accident. It was at the Piper Alpha drilling
structure in the North Sea. Occidental Petroleum operated the
structure off the coast of Scotland. The structure produced oil and
gas from twenty-four wells.

One hundred sixty-seven men were
killed when the structure exploded after a gas leak. Red Adair had
to stop the fires and cap the wells. He faced winds blowing more
than one hundred twenty kilometers an hour, and ocean waves at least
twenty meters high.

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VOICE TWO:

In March of nineteen ninety-one, Red Adair went to Kuwait
following the Persian Gulf War. He and his crews were called in to
help put out fires set by the Iraqi army as it fled from coalition
forces. But Adair faced serious problems in putting out the fires.
In June, he flew to Washington, D.C. to talk to government officials
about those problems. He told congressional lawmakers that he needed
more water and more equipment. He also described his concerns about
medical services for his men, and the buried landmines throughout
Kuwait.

VOICE ONE:

Adair also met with then-President George H.W. Bush. President
Bush listened to his concerns and offered his support. Within weeks,
Adair had the equipment he needed to complete the job.

The Red Adair Company capped more than one hundred wells. His
crews were among twenty-seven teams from sixteen countries called in
to fight the fires. The crews' efforts put out about seven hundred
Kuwaiti fires. Their efforts saved millions of barrels of oil. Some
experts say the operation also helped prevent an environmental
tragedy.

The job had been expected to take three to five years. However,
it was completed in just eight months. In a ceremony, the Emir of
Kuwait extinguished the last burning well on November sixth,
nineteen ninety-one.

In addition to Kuwait, Adair and his men carried out sixteen
other jobs that year. They worked in India, Venezuela, Nigeria, the
Gulf of Mexico and the United States.

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VOICE TWO:

Red Adair had spent his seventy-sixth birthday in Kuwait working
side by side with his crew. When asked when he might retire, he told
reporters: "Retire? I do not know what that word means. As long as a
man is able to work, and he is productive out there and he feels
good – keep at it."

Still, Red Adair finally did retire in nineteen ninety-four. At
that time, he joked about where he would end up when he died. He
said he hoped to be in Heaven. But he said this about Hell: "I have
made a deal with the devil. He said he is going to give me an
air-conditioned place when I go down there – if I go there – so I
won't put all the fires out."

VOICE ONE:

Red Adair died in two thousand four. He was eighty-nine years
old. At his funeral, many family members and friends honored him by
wearing red clothes. Many Americans remember Red Adair for his
bravery. He lived his life on the edge of danger. He was known for
his willingness to risk his own life to save others.

During his life, Adair received Special Letters of Recognition
from Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush.
One of the letters said this: "You have served your country well by
your willingness to do a dangerous and important job with a rare
ability. In an age said to be without heroes, you are an authentic
hero."

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VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Jill Moss. It was produced by Lawan
Davis. This is Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week for People in
America in VOA Special English.